Its Time To Pass The Call-Center Bill

There is a bipartisan bill in the Congress that regulates call centers, names companies that move jobs out of the country, gives customers the right to talk to Americans if they are having trouble understanding the support representative, protects private information that you give to the representative and bans federal grants or guaranteed loans to American companies that move call center jobs out of the US. A group of big companies and their lobbying organizations has come out against the bill and the list shows you why you call your Representative and let them know you are for it, and for bills like it that protect consumers and jobs.

The U.S. Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act

The bipartisan U.S. Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act, H.R. 3596, has 75 sponsors in the House. It can pass, so help give it a push. It gives consumers the right to ask where the person they are speaking with is based, and ask for an American-based representative instead. Among the things this bill would accomplish:

A number of companies and their lobbying organizations put out a letter opposing H.R. 3596, saying that giving the public info on companies that are outsourcing would create a “blacklist” and would “increase costs” (wages of the 99%). The list shows why you want to support the bill:

Cargill, Incorporated

The Coalition of Service Industries

Consumer Electronics Association

Covergys Corporation

HR Policy Association

Kiewit Corporation

LORD Corporation

National Association of Manufacturers

National Retail Federation

Retail Industry Leaders Association

Security Industry Association

TechAmerica

Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)

Texas Association of Business

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Universal Weather and Aviation

Who is in charge here, big corporations and their lobbyists or We, the People? Call your Representative and ask them to co-sponsor and vote for this bill.

About Dave Johnson

Dave has more than 20 years of technology industry experience. His earlier career included technical positions, including video game design at Atari and Imagic. He was a pioneer in design and development of productivity and educational applications of personal computers. More recently he helped co-found a company developing desktop systems to validate carbon trading in the US.